1. Andrea Pozzo was best known for his grandiose frescoes using the technique of quadratura to create an illusion of three-dimensional space on flat surfaces.
23 Facts About Andrea Pozzo
1. 2.
Andrea Pozzo's masterpiece is the nave ceiling of the Church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome.
3.
Andrea Pozzo is noted for the architectural plans of Ljubljana Cathedral, inspired by the designs of the Jesuit churches Il Gesu and S Ignazio in Rome.
4.
Andrea Pozzo was frequently employed by the Jesuits to decorate churches and buildings such as their churches of Modena, Bologna and Arezzo.
5.
In Turin Andrea Pozzo painted the ceiling of the Jesuit church of SS.
6.
In 1681, Andrea Pozzo was called to Rome by Giovanni Paolo Oliva, Superior General of the Jesuits.
7.
Andrea Pozzo was an unrivalled master of perspective; he used light, colour, and an architectural background as means of creating illusion.
8.
Andrea Pozzo proposed to resolve this by creating the illusion of a dome, when viewed from inside, by painting on canvas.
9.
For example, rather than placing the usual evangelists or scholarly pillars of doctrine in the pendentives, Andrea Pozzo depicted the victorious warriors of the old testament: Judith and Holofernes; David and Goliath; Jael and Sisera; and Samson and the Philistines.
10.
Andrea Pozzo explained that he illustrated the words of Christ in Luke: I am come to send fire on the earth, and the words of Ignatius: Go and set everything aflame.
11.
Andrea Pozzo painted this ceiling and trompe-l'oeil dome on a canvas, 17 m wide.
12.
Andrea Pozzo designed the altar in the Chapel of St Francesco Borgia in the same church.
13.
Andrea Pozzo painted scenes from the life of St Stanislaus Kostka in the saint's rooms of the Jesuit novitiate of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in Rome.
14.
Andrea Pozzo painted the high altar painting of the Parish Church of Saint Michael in Brixen which depicts Michael's fight with Lucifer.
15.
In 1702 Andrea Pozzo painted a cupola on canvas for the Badia delle Sante Flora e Lucilla in Arezzo.
16.
In 1694 Andrea Pozzo had explained his illusory techniques in a letter to Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein and ambassador of Emperor Leopold I to the Papal Court in Rome.
17.
Andrea Pozzo had many followers in Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia and Poland.
18.
Andrea Pozzo's canvases show him to be a far less compelling a painter at close inspection.
19.
Andrea Pozzo died in Vienna in 1709 at a moment when he intended to return to Italy to design a new Jesuit church in Venice.
20.
Andrea Pozzo was buried with great honours in one of his best realisations, the Jesuit church in Vienna.
21.
Andrea Pozzo's brother, Giuseppe Andrea Pozzo, a Discalced Carmelite friar in Venice, was a painter.
22.
Andrea Pozzo decorated the high altar of the church of the Scalzi in that city during the last years of the 17th century.
23.
Between 1701 and 1702, Andrea Pozzo designed the Jesuit churches of San Bernardo and Chiesa del Gesu in Montepulciano, but his plans for the last church were only partly realized.